Speakers – 2015

Amanda Marcotte

Amanda Marcotte is a freelance writer and journalist who writes for Slate’s XX Factor, USA Today, the Rolling Stone, and many others. She writes about right wing misinformation, women’s issues, and pop culture. She can be found at Twitter @amandamarcotte.

Amy Davis Roth (A.K.A. Surly Amy) is a 4th-generation visual artist who resides in Los Angeles, California. She is a professional artist and creator of Surly-Ramics. Her designer jewelry line is inspired by and encourages science, humanism and critical thinking. Amy is a longtime contributor to the widely popular blog Skepchick.org. She is managing editor for Skepchick’s sister site that deals with the intersection between art, science and skepticism called Mad Art Laband cohost of the podcast Mad Art Cast, about art and science. She loves to add her creative skills to the fight against pseudoscience and ignorance.

A designer in Chicago, a superhero in her own mind and absolutely nothing on TV, Beth is interested in all the things. Often at once. Her fine arts degree came with a side order of computer science, and she’s interested in UX, processes and fighting evil dark patterns. She wrangles fonts professionally, pummels code amateurishly, and has been known to shove fire in her face for fun. A co-organizer for Chicago Skeptics and a contributor to Mad Art Lab, Beth’s opinion is that you should try everything twice; if you don’t like it, you were probably doing it wrong the first time around.

Brianne Bilyeu has been involved in medical science in patient-facing healthcare and research since the turn of the century. She has a passion for the scientific method and critical thinking. In her role as a radio show host for the weekly production, Atheists Talk, she has had the opportunity to chat with many inspiring people about topics of importance to nonbelievers. Her blog, Biodork, is part of the Freethought Blogs network, and there she writes about science, skepticism, atheism, social justice, her work as an abortion clinic volunteer and her kick-butt adventures in Minneapolis and around the world.

Cassandra Phoenix is a freelance writer who has a Master’s degree from UW-Madison’s MLS program, which is rather beside the point at this stage of her life: she writes more than she tends collections. She’s been writing fanfic since 1999 and you can find it under the_rogue_bitch at www.archiveofourown.org. She is also a contributor to Grounded Parents. Cassandra lives in Madison, WI with her trans kid and a cat, both of whom are not to be trifled with. She’s a third-generation American, a second-wave feminist, and a first-time visitor to SkepchickCon, who’s pleased as punch to be a panelist. Cassandra’s interest veers from here to there and you have to work hard to keep up with her, but it’s worth it.

Dan Berliner is a physics and chemistry teacher at a public high school in Minneapolis. Before he knew he wanted to be a teacher, Dan also got a degree in a little-known field called “Medical Physics.” Dan has a particular interest in the intersection of physics and medicine, particularly where magnetism and radiation are concerned. He is focused on promoting education as a pathway to a better life and a better society.

A technologist from Chicago, and a trans woman geek with little formal education and a great interest in all things creative, philosophical, and tech. She manages a team that fixes network video systems used on everything from broadcast TV, drone systems, and underwater subs and still gets complaints that the news channel isn’t on. When there’s time, she builds game design projects such as Half-Life mods and Minecraft dungeons, or studies in hopes of joining the bayesian conspiracy.

Daniella Martin is passionate about teaching people that insects are fabulous food – in addition to being the one of the most environmentally-efficient animal protein sources on the planet. She dreams of increasing public awareness and acceptance of edible insects in the West, with the ultimate goals of helping to solve world hunger, support indigenous people, and reduce resource use. To this end, she wrote a book, Edible: An Adventure Into the World of Eating Insects and the Last Great Hope to Save the Planet, has a blog, GirlMeetsBug.com, and a cooking show on YouTube. She has been on several TV and radio shows and inspired an episode of The Simpsons. She has eaten over 35 different species of bug.

By training a forensic anthropologist, but by passion a science communicator. Emily Finke is happiest when she is in a creek, teaching 10 year olds how to catch crayfish and look for tardigrades. Or at a convention, dressed up as Batgirl while talking about animal reproduction, entomophagy or superhero science. When she is not talking about science professionally, She is… well, still talking about science or social justice. Her main blog can be found at This View of Life. Online, she can be found on Twitter as @Seelix. Offline, she can be found at the pub talking to strangers about how penguins don’t live at the North Pole.

Erich Bacher is an IT professional, a contributor to Grounded Parents, and the father of two boys. He is completely lacking in appropriate credentials, so anything he says should be judged only by its own merit. He owns copies of Transformers: The Movie (1986) on DVD and VHS, frequently misspells certain words, and has an extensive collection of skills and ideas.

Gwen specializes in science communication and outreach. She’s currently Outreach Coordinator for the Purdue Department of Entomology. She also serves as Network Coordinator for the Organization of Biological Field Stations, and is a science writer for WIRED.com.

Heina (pronounced hee-na) holds two shameful Humanities degrees from a fine University of California institution. Their induction into the noble life of the nerd occurred at age ten, when they discovered the Internet through excessive amounts of time spent among adults in Star Wars forums. As a fierce femme who never wears t-shirts, they often express their geekiness in far less sartorial fashion, although they do enjoy the occasional (or not-so-occasional) sewing-free cosplay. You can find their writings at Heinous Dealings on Freethought Blogs.

Jamie Bernstein is a data scientist who sometimes pretends she is a photographer. She is a contributor at Skepchick and blogs about photography at Catching Photons. She likes to use science to predict and [insert nice sounding synonym for “manipulate”] your behavior without you even realizing it. She is on Twitter, probably complaining about policy issues, at @UAJamie.

Jason Thibeault is a gigantic computer nerd and technology addict. He spends his precious free time ranting on the intertubes about whatever happens to irritate him, whenever something happens to irritate him and he’s in arms’ reach of a computing device. Since he’s such a computer nerd, that’s almost always. He identifies as a skeptic, a feminist and an atheist, and in his experience exactly no valid arguments have ever been presented to him that these three are at all in conflict. He blogs at Lousy Canuck, fueled by caffeine and rage and caffeine.

Julia Burke is a freelance writer and journalist with an interest in social justice and a passion for wine, beer, and food. When she’s not rewiewing a concert or crushing grapes, she’s a volunteer with Secular Woman. She’s based in the Midwest, where she runs to support her hedonistic passions and drinks to support her writing habit. Follow her on Twitter or on Google+ or check out her website at Stellenbauchery.

Kavin Senapathy is an inquisitive agnostic raised atheist. She is a science advocate and communicator, and contributes to Skepchick, Grounded Parents, and Genetic Literacy Project. Her interests include the world of human and ag biotech and genomics. She loves GMOs, and currently boycotts the organic industry. Kavin loves to spend time with the Genetically Modified Husband, and Genetically Vigorous Kids. Ask her why her followers are known as “Senapaths.” Find Kavin on her science advocacy Facebook page, and Twitter @ksenapathy

Kristin Ellis is a lover of all things science. When she’s not doing her “real job” in clinical cancer research, she’s launching a biotech startup and organizing science-oriented community events to make science fun and accessible to people from all backgrounds. Her favorite things in life are her dog Clark, the great outdoors, some good dystopian fiction and a great conversation. She loves getting into arguments on Twitter and learning about how to be a better feminist / scientist/ human being.

Maggie Koerth-Baker is an award-winning science journalist who just finished a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University. Before her fellowship year, she spent five years as the science editor at BoingBoing.net and was the author of a monthly column, called “Eureka”, in The New York Times Magazine. “Eureka” focused on the intersection between science and culture, making connections between the questions we ask about how the world works and the way we live in modern society.

Mary Myers has a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Oregon, and works as the Director of Institutional Research at a rural college in Minnesota. She is especially interested in science education and social justice issues.

Matt Lowry is a high school and college physics professor with a strong interest in promoting science education and critical thinking among his students and the population in general. He is a self-described skeptic, someone who believes in Carl Sagan’s adage that “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” He expounds upon topics related to science, skepticism, and education at his blog – The Skeptical Teacher.

Megan Press is a psychiatrist who is passionate about stomping out stigma, integrating mental health care into primary medical care, and eliminating mind/body dualism from medicine. She spends her days treating patients, teaching newbie doctors at the University of Minnesota, and managing a bunch of mental health clinics. Deep down inside she is a big geek who loves knitting, sci-fi, video games, and sleeping in (that last part never actually happens).

Miri Mogilevsky is a graduate student in social work at Columbia University. Her blog, Brute Reason, covers topics such as social justice, psychology, mental health, and whatever else keeps her up thinking till 3 AM. When not writing, Miri devours books and talks to anyone who’s willing to listen about how amazing New York City is.

Olivia James is a writer and activist at Skepchick, Teen Skepchick, and We Got So Far To Go. Her writing focuses on feminism, mental health, and skepticism, with a healthy dose of philosophy thrown in. She’s also somehow convinced people to pay her for writing at a variety of websites and spends her days cackling at her own luck while pounding on her keyboard.

PZ Myers is an astounding miracle of nature. He is made up of about 100 trillion cells that are all independently regulated by complex networks of approximately 20,000 genes and 3 billion nucleotides. His genome contains a unique combinatorial code of almost 40,000 alleles — genes which have been epigenetically honed by 57 years of experience. He is so popular that he is the personal host of a quadrillion organisms that rely on him for sustenance and support. Furthermore, he is the pinnacle of almost 4 billion years of chemical and biological evolution, and before that, stars burned for billions of years to generate the raw material of his corporeal body by nucleosynthesis. You should be awed by his presence. You want to be in the same room with him simply to bask in the cosmic significance of his existence.

When a career as a deadly ninja assassin proved too tame, Raychelle turned to chemistry. She’s currently a postdoctoral researcher at a super-secret-but-not-that-secret institution. To relax from a day of mad scientist duties, Raychelle enjoys sci-fi/horror movies, knitting, and consuming books of all genres. In her spare time, she writes about science and culture for a number of blogs and tweets up a storm.

Rebecca leads a team of skeptical female activists at Skepchick.org. She travels around the world delivering entertaining talks on science, atheism, feminism, and skepticism. There is currently an asteroid orbiting the sun with her name on it. You can follow her every fascinating move on Twitter or on Google+.

Ryan is a costumer, armorer, and sculptor with a MASc in bicycle destruction and a background in science education. He is a blogger for Mad Art Lab and has been featured on TheMarySue, BoingBoing, io9 and Kotaku. He is best known for blogging about armor, his Slave Leo and Darth Shakespeare costumes, and his YouTube channel which details his forays into trampoline archery and other poor life choices.

Steph is a contributing blogger to Grounded Parents, the Skepchick parenting blog. She has a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science degree in Political Science. Steph served as Peace Corps volunteer in Togo, West Africa. She has spent her career working with a variety of nonprofit agencies focused on public health and poverty alleviation and has been actively involved with the reproductive rights movement for nearly 20 years. Steph is also a single mom to the two best kids on the planet. When she’s not busy running the advocacy program for a domestic violence/sexual assault organization and raising her family, Steph enjoys snuggling, making pies, gardening and fitness. In parenting, she trusts science, evidence and common sense to lead the way.

Stephanie Zvan is an atheist and skeptical activist who used to have time to write science fiction on the side. These days, she blogs at Almost Diamonds on the FreethoughtBlogs network, hosts the Atheists Talk radio show on Sunday mornings, and spends a lot of time talking about known unknowns because she thinks it’s fun. Stephanie’s favorite snack is internet trolls.

Topher is a nerd, scientist, bioengineer, photographer, costumer, dog trainer, beer brewer, and a lot of other nouns. He has too many degrees and too many hobbies because it’s all fun and interesting, and … squirrel! He writes about distance parenting, healthcare, and whatever else amuses him and his co-bloggers at the moment.